THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the trolls doing the rounds on October 29, the day Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rolled out a slew of welfare measures, was a tale of shared lament of two CM-hopefuls in the opposition UDF. It served to highlight, in no uncertain terms, how the out-of-the-blue dole outs would weigh on the upcoming local-body polls.
Eyeing no less than a convincing win in the election to the three-tier bodies -- which is being viewed as a semi-final, coming as it does a few months ahead of the assembly election -- the LDF hopes to ride the wave of its welfare push.
Determined to repeat the front’s success in previous elections, Pinarayi seems to have left no stone unturned. Over the past decade, the Left has held a upper hand in local-body polls. Moreover, being the ruling front has its advantages, as the very fact that it controls the levers of policy making can convert into votes.
With this in mind, the front is opting for a multi-pronged approach, in which highlighting the state government’s initiatives and how they reflect at the grassroots level is key. On the other hand, sufficient attention has been accorded to candidate selection by fielding a judicious mix of known faces, youngsters and women.
What could, however, go wrong for the LDF would be a backlash on two fronts: Sabarimala and human-wildlife conflict. The gold theft controversy linked to the hill shrine and subsequent allegations could spell doom in the assembly election, if not the local-body polls.
Countering the public perception over Sabarimala at the macro-level and fighting the human-wildlife narrative at the micro-level could be major challenges before the front. CPM secretariat member M Swaraj exuded confidence that the LDF government’s development and welfare initiatives would reflect positively in the polls.
The CPM feels that Congress’ early announcement of candidates may not yield the desired results. Even while the Left projects the UDF as its primary opponent, it perceives the challenge posed by the BJP, especially in corporations such as Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. At a time when it is nurturing hopes of a third consecutive assembly term, nothing short of a compelling win will do for the LDF!